Translated by Jouissance of Exiled Rebels Scanlations
SheQiu, HeiQiu and MaoQiu were cultivating beside the lake, sitting cross-legged in their human forms.
Though the air in here wasnt as saturated with spiritual energy as the air in the suite, they had the support of the spiritual water, so their cultivation speed wasnt bad. That was excluding PiQiu and CatQiu, who often played hooky; they hadnt been cultivating as much as they should.
You XiaoMo walked into the Magic Herb fields and, seeing that the Hidden Dipper Stink Bug seemed to be doing fine in their second stage of transformation, grabbed Piqiu and CatQiu who were playing around in the fields.
You XiaoMo brought them up to eye level, saying with a smile, You two, let me, your owner, tell you something. If you continue slacking off from cultivating, then Ill throw you both in the beast cage for the next month. Im sure Xiao Hei and the others will be very pleased.
PiQiu hugged his finger with his two claws. Im really sorry, master.
CatQiu imitated whatever PiQiu did. Meow~
You XiaoMo was unmoved. Dont think you can elicit any sympathy from me like that. Tell me your decision now.
The two immediately hung their heads in surrender.
You XiaoMo put them down, satisfied. Now, go and cultivate next to the lake. Unless its your turn to work, you wont be leaving the lakeside. If you behave, I can give you a day off.
For these two who took every day off, a day off meant nothing.
You XiaoMo calmly said, If you dont like holidays, then we can get rid of that. Im a very generous owner, and will respect your choices.
PiQiu and CatQiu immediately hugged his legs tearfully.
You XiaoMo huffed.
Walking to the lakeside, You XiaoMo gazed at the egg at the center of the lake. It hadnt reacted at all yet. Could it be that this egg was dead already?
The more he thought, the more it seemed possible. You XiaoMo hurriedly turned to PiQiu and said, PiQiu, go and fish that egg up.
PiQiu turned. Arf? Why?
You XiaoMo cuffed him over the head. Talk like a human.
PiQiu immediately said, Im going down now.
CatQiu looked at PiQiu in shock. That wasnt what you said.
As soon as he finished speaking, he assumed a human form, butt-naked and bits hanging. Just as he prepared to dive into the lake, something strange suddenly happened to the spiritual water and the surface of the lake began to swirl like a whirlpool.
This movement brought SheQiu and the others out of their cultivation. They opened their eyes, looking at the whirling water with shock.
SheQiu asked, Whats happening?
Sharp eyed Xiao Hei replied, I think its that egg in the center of the lake.
Xiao Hei only spoke like a normal person to SheQiu, who was stronger than him.
MaoQiu said, Not I think, it just is.
Hearing their words, You XiaoMo gazed into the lake with curiosity. And then he immediately regretted not getting someone to fish the egg out. After the whirlpool swirled for a full five minutes, the water level visibly fell. Where it was originally only twenty or thirty centimeters from the bank, the water level had suddenly fallen by almost half a meter.
You XiaoMo was dumbstruck.
PiQiu and CatQiu also widened their eyes.
Only SheQiu and the other two were unmoved, as if even if the sky fell it wouldnt have anything to do with them. Although if the sky did fall in this dimension, it really wouldnt have anything to do with them.
Quick, quick, fish it out! You XiaoMo finally recovered and hastily ordered. If it continued, the spiritual water would all be gone. Then he wouldnt be able to stop himself from killing that egg.
By the time he had finished yelling, the water level had fallen by another half a meter. The only good thing was that the egg had finally stopped absorbing the water. However, with such a large lake of spiritual water suddenly reduced to half, You XiaoMos heart ached. The spiritual water replenished itself very slowly. The amount it grew by each day wasnt even enough for him to use.
You XiaoMo threw PiQiu into the lake, snarling, Fish it up.
PiQiu shuddered. This was the first time he had seen his master so mad and he was afraid to say anything more, instantly grabbing the egg.
You XiaoMo held the egg, wondering if he should fry it or boil it.
However, after sucking up half a lake of spiritual water, the demon beast egg was no longer grey and dull. Instead, it had changed to a shimmering fire red. It seemed like it had a life, jumping like a heartbeat with a thud thud thud.
SheQiu suddenly spoke up, sounding like he had been enlightened. So its like that.
You XiaoMo asked, Whats it like?
SheQiu began to explain, That egg had been in the palace for too long without spiritual energy, causing its lifeforce to steady weaken. Thats why it had been unresponsive until now. After half a year of soaking in the lake, it had plenty of spiritual water to help it, so it recovered.
You XiaoMos expression was pinched, Theres no need for it to absorb half of the lake though, is there?
That, Im not sure about. Its possible that a full recovery would require a lot of spiritual energy. You havent properly checked in a while, but the water in the lake had been decreasing by a thousand drops each day.
You XiaoMo:
This guy probably had been harboring these suspicions for a long time, but never told him.
You XiaoMo raised the egg in his hand. Say, would it be worth it to cook it for dinner?
SheQiu said, Before it took half of the spiritual water, you wouldnt lose much if you ate it, but now its definitely not worth it. It doesnt seem to be a normal high grade demon beast, and wont your heart ache if you ate half a lakes worth of spiritual water in one go like that?
You XiaoMo replied with sadness, It would, but thinking of how to sucked up so much spiritual water, I just really, really want to have it for dinner.
As he finished speaking, the egg started moving from where it was lying quietly on his palm, jumping onto the ground and away.
You XiaoMo stared, but then saw the direction in which it was heading in and startled. He hurriedly yelled, Aaaahhh, stop it! Dont let it jump into the lake!
PiQiu lunged, but was dodged.
CatQiu tried to block its way, but it just bounced off CatQius head, causing the beast to run back over tearfully.
At the crucial moment, Xiao Heis foot came down and held the egg in place.
You XiaoMo lunged over and gave Xiao Hei a thankful look, only to get a roll of the eyes in response. He picked up the struggling egg and threatened it, If you keep struggling, Ill barbeque you.
The egg fell silent.
You XiaoMo grinned, but didnt even have the time to say a second sentence when it started struggling again, as if it was unfazed by the threat.
MaoQiu spoke up: It might not be afraid of fire.
You XiaoMo asked in surprise, Then what is it afraid of?
MaoQiu replied, I dont know, but the higher the level of the demon beast, the less its afraid of.
You XiaoMo knocked on the eggs shell. Do you think itll be afraid of Ling Xiao?
MaoQiu: Definitely!
In this world, the number of demon beasts that werent afraid of the boss could be counted on one hand.
You XiaoMo realized that as the word left MaoQius lips, the egg finally stopped struggling, lying in his arms like it was playing dead. Even when he put it on the ground, it still didnt move.
You XiaoMo was elated. Wow, it really stopped moving.
MaoQiu didnt reply.
Though the eggs lifeforce had been rather weak in the past half a year, it could still feel how powerful Ling Xiao was and had a vague understanding of the situation outside. It wasnt afraid of normal attacks, but if it was that guy, he could probably crush it between two fingers and might even squeeze out some yolk.
You XiaoMo picked it up again. You guys keep cultivating. Im going to show it to Ling Xiao.
The egg wanted to struggle, but it was too late.
Before he left, he went to take one last look at the Hidden Dipper Stink Bugs. The second transformation would take a while. Then, You XiaoMo left with a single thought and fell directly onto the bed, and the resting Ling Xiao.
Ling Xiao hummed lightly, embracing him and saying, Youre rather eager!
You XiaoMo scrambled up. Wait a second, I want to show you something, huh? Wheres that egg?
Ling Xiao took a red egg out from the covers. You mean, this egg?
You XiaoMo nodded joyfully, but thinking of what the egg had done to his lake, his face fell again. Ling Xiao asked him what was wrong and he explained everything.
Ling Xiao smiled, saying, This egg really isnt a normal egg. Youll see when it hatches. If you think its wronged you then just make it work for you after it comes out to repay you through labor.
You XiaoMo looked at the cowering egg and nodded. Thats a good idea!
Ling Xiao grabbed his waist, running his hands across You XiaoMos body and grinned, saying, Now, lets fulfill that promise from before.
Hearing this, You XiaoMos expression froze. He had only just realized he had been sitting right on that gradually awakening part of Ling Xiao.